Alya's in Trouble, Must be Tuesday
by Overworkedunderwhelmed
Summary: When Alya manages to land herself in a whole web of lies - and trouble - Nino struggles to save her. (Speculative fic based upon the synopsis for Anansi. Spoilers for the synopsis only.)
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes

Not beta read for now.

Entirely a speculative piece, based upon the plot synopsis of Anansi.

If you can recognize where the title came from...congratulations, you probably feel as old as I do. ;)

* * *

Scraping the back of his hand across his the beads of sweat that covered his forehead, Nino replaced his hat. He shut his eyes, plastered his back against the brick before peeking around the side of the alley.

There was the most massive, terrifying spider he'd ever seen spitting web across the the streets of Paris. Nothing ever got that huge - at least not without the aid of Paris's resident super-villain.

And there, in the center of her web, was his his reason for sticking around when everyone else had run screaming in the opposite direction.

Struggling against the sticky silk, Alya was suspended at least dozen feet off the ground.

Clever as his girlfriend was, Alya had managed to free an arm, sending yet another up-too-close and personal account as a live stream on the Ladyblog.

Of course, it was that nasty little habit that had landed all of them in this trouble in the first place.

At least she was keeping it talking, as the spider lurched, ever closer.

Even as she was stuck in place, Alya faced the giant spider head on, with so much bravery that it bordered on the absurd.

A slow, steady exhale slipped past his lips. At least it wasn't the alarming pace it had used in spinning its deadly web.

He grimaced, scouring the streets for some way he might help her break free. It was a shame he couldn't find anything larger than a trash can lid to shield himself so he get close enough to help.

It had been at least five minutes and there had still been no sign of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Not even as her stream had started up, surely alerting the heroes to where their help would be needed.

He been much more comfortable around others who had been Akumatized when they had been there. But he couldn't afford to stay still.

Not while Alya needed him. Not with as close as this Akuma was to her.

Clenching his jaw, Nino crept forward, sticking to the shadows and cover of the row of houses as best he could. In his brief survey, the best hope he could find was a long metal pole, capped by a cloth an umbrella from the hastily abandoned café.

His shoulders tightening, Nino adjusted his grip on the over-sized umbrella, tugging it free of its post. Frowning, he hefted it, struggling to wield both the pole and the trash can shield at once.

If the sticky web hung in barely shimmering clumps were any indication, the spider's reach was still much too far for his comfort.

He couldn't do either of them any good if he got snagged himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Enberlight for a beta read on this chapter!

* * *

Alya Césaire was no fool.

But hanging upside down in a spider web of her Akumatized sister's own making...that was giving her pause.

It hadn't taken her long to piece together who had been akumatized.

She knew how Nora acted. Alya herself had learned half her own tricks from her. She always was inclined to play with her food, she chuckled darkly.

But some part of herself must have persisted for Alya herself to be looming still aware and captured in her web, instead of fully cocooned in spider silk as she had seen as she and Nino had scrambled through the city.

Struggling against the sticky web, Alya was half lost in thought, desperately trying to puzzle a best way out. She and Nino had gotten split up, but there was no way to tell whether he had already been captured himself.

She wasn't exactly sure what it was that had set Nora off, but there was no doubt in her mind it was some mixture of anger and fear - possibly for Alya's own safety.

Nora had been so convinced that she was running in thoughtlessly, chasing after superheroes without a care for her own safety.

That was perhaps the very reason that Anansi seemed to be biding her time, stalking back and forth across the silken strands.

Trying - and failing - to rile her up.

"Ah, ah, ah, Little Sister," Nora's voice chided, a hissed strain that was barely recognizable behind a terrifying mask that slowly morphed into a close facsimile of her sisters. "You mustn't struggle too much. Not before your little friends arrive."

Alya grit her teeth, even more intent to tug herself free. "What makes you so sure they'll come for me?"

Anansi tensed up at that.

Alya smirked at her reaction.

At least until Anansi's sharper voice cut like a knife. "I don't know, little sister…have your heroes ever failed to come after an Akuma?"

Flinching, Alya let her eyes narrow, covering the fact that she'd managed to free her phone camera enough to show her sister's temporary monstrous form..

"Do not fool yourself, Alya." Anansi grin grew menacing. "You are little more than a very convenient distraction."

She knew she might be a little rash, always ready to tail after Akuma to get the best source for her blog, but that had been twofold. She had a personal dedication to the truth. The reality of that made her blog one of the main sources of information on Paris's superheroes...and it made her own name that much stronger.

Nora might never understand, but this was her chance to step out of the long shadow her big sister had cast. With Nora's athletic accomplishments and the never ending chore of reigning in the twins, it hadn't really been easy for Alya to grab the spotlight for herself. For years, the most she could claim was that she was actually really good with kids and a decent student. And the most that ever got her was a special dinner now and again...and extra time tasked with babysitting duty.

Now, she'd been on national TV more than once now, demonstrating her own expertise. A budding career in investigative journalism was hers for the taking, provided she continued to run down the leads as they came up.

A big scoop, short of revealing Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities, could do that for her.

After she had been Akumatized months ago, she knew she couldn't blast that information out into the world. Of course, she still wanted it for herself.

Having been inside of a transformation of her own had given her a fresh perspective on the matter of secret identities. But if the information was there, clear enough for her to find - with as much as she paid attention to the pair of them - she could at least put out information that would send all but only the most determined reporters fleeing in the opposite direction.

She was hoping for more: to puzzle out more about the big butterfly himself.

Her own akumatized form had shown a preference for being well connected to put Ladybug's identity out - all because she had been convinced the hateful Chloé Bourgeois had been hiding behind Ladybug's mask at the time.

But all of her sisters going for the myths they had all been told as children?

She expected it from Ella and Etta, especially after they had just been talking about the puckish Sapotis.

But Nora? Somehow she had expected more from the big sister she looked up to for so long. Her innate sense of strategy was much better than that. She was more clever than that.

"Speaking of distractions," Anansi's grin grew dark and malicious, hovering ever closer to furtively peer through the web. "It seems you brought along a little friend."


End file.
